Nagata Family Residence (Minamiawaji)

About the Nagata Family Residence (Minamiawaji)

The Nagata Family Residence (永田家住宅, Nagata-ke Jūtaku) is a farmhouse compound in Shitori Nagata, Minamiawaji City, Hyogo Prefecture, centered on a main house built in the middle Meiji period (1883 to 1897), and nine of its structures, including the main house, the detached zashiki and the nagayamon gate, became Registered Tangible Cultural Properties on January 26, 2011. It is the compound of a large farming household in the countryside of southern Awaji Island.

Minamiawaji City records that the seventh head of the household was Nagata Hidejiro. He became principal of the old Sumoto Middle School at 26 and went on to serve as governor of Mie Prefecture, a member of the House of Peers, mayor of Tokyo, Minister of Colonial Affairs and Minister of Railways. Hyogo Prefecture describes the Nagata Family Residence as his birthplace and notes that he was also known as a haiku poet under the name Seiran.

Another property called the Former Nagata Family Residence (Takanoya) stands in Minamiizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. It belonged to a different family. This page covers the nine structures in Shitori Nagata, Minamiawaji.

How the Compound Is Laid Out

The national database descriptions make it possible to piece together the plan of the Nagata Family Residence.

• The main house stands at the center of the plot facing south. It is a two-storied timber building with a hip-and-gable roof of hongawara tiles and a building area of 313 square meters.
• The detached zashiki adjoins the west side of the main house, linked through a toilet block. Built in 1888, it was the household's reception wing.
• The pond stonework lines a pond south of the detached zashiki, and the furniture storehouse sits behind the zashiki at the end of a covered corridor.
• The nagayamon gate and the munamon gate with its wall both face the front of the main house. The nagayamon gate dates from 1904.
• The service gate is attached to the east side of the main house and divides the front yard from the inner yard. The storehouse runs east to west at the back of the plot on its east side.
• The high wall follows the north and east edges of the plot for a total of 27 meters.

All nine were registered on January 26, 2011, in the 69th round of registrations, under the consecutive numbers 28-0483 to 28-0491. The main house was registered as a model of design, and the other eight as structures that contribute to the historic landscape of the country. Only the storehouse is later, from the late Taisho period (1919 to 1926). The others are dated between the middle Meiji period and 1904.

On March 31, 2026, Hyogo Prefecture also listed the Nagata Family Residence as an Important Landscape Building under its landscape ordinance. The prefecture explained that, despite some later alterations, the main house, its outbuildings and the stone-lined pond together preserve the layout of a large modern-era farming household well.

Visiting the Nagata Family Residence

The Nagata Family Residence is a private home, and Minamiawaji City lists its owner as a private individual. We found no announcement of public openings or tours, so the grounds and interiors cannot be entered. If you go, look from outside only and avoid disturbing the people who live there.

Minamiawaji City notes that the east end of the storehouse roof was once hipped-and-gabled but was cut back to a plain gable when the road was widened. The east side of the plot therefore borders a road, and the outer face of the high wall and the storehouse are likely what you can see from there. The detached zashiki, the pond and the furniture storehouse lie inside the gates and are mostly hidden from view.